For one thing all through the Cold War Nazi imagery in fiction was frequently treated as synonymous with Soviet and East German imagery, and that has had a lingering influence on what "Nazi" imagery means in fiction to this day.
The use of the term "Storm Trooper" in Star Wars has actually contributed a great deal to why most people don't actually know what that term actually meant. They were not brainwashed soldiers trained from childhood or genetically engineered clones or any other kind of professional solider. They were a purely volunteer paramilitary force made up from members of the Nazi Party engaging in gang like street violence against supporters of other parties before the party had actually taken over the Government, and once Hitler actually did have full control of the government he actually phased them out. A group in fiction that actually does resemble what the Storm Troopers actually were are the Patriotic Knight Corps from Legend of The Galactic Heroes.
I've watched a couple recent Video Essays on YouTube about what a great Anti-Fascist movie Casablanca is, and I find it kind of annoying. That movie addresses nothing about actual Fascist ideology, it didn't have the guts to make it's concentration camp escaping refugees Jews or Romani or Queer or any other victims of the 3rd Reich who mainstream White American audiences might have trouble empathizing with. The historical figure Victor Lazlo is based on was half Japanese, so seeing him played by such an Aryan looking actor is very offensive in my book.
As far as that movie is concerned Nazi Germany's main sin was invading and occupying other countries, particularly France, not anything about their treatment of marginalized groups within Germany. And that is definitely among their many sins, but it hardly gives Britain or the US or the USSR any moral superiority over them. Am I the only person annoyed at seeing a movie all about how immoral occupying France is showing no self awareness of the hypocrisy in how the titular location only came under Nazi control at this time because it was colonized by France, and that the film featured no Berbers or Muslims or any other Brown Skinned indigenous Moroccans?
The reading of the film that makes Rick himself an allegory for America, someone who's nature is to oppose tyranny and who's only flaw was taking too long to take action, I find an incredibly problematic form of American Exceptionalism. A lot of what the Nazis did America did first, the Concentration Camp was invented for the massacre the Cherokee under the Andrew Jackson administration. It also reflects how allegedly Anti-War people suddenly think it's wrong to be Anti-War when the Enemy is Fascist, but the truth is the people in America who wanted us to go to war with Germany even before Pearl Harbor happened were the Fascists of America, the KKK and other Segregationist Southern Democrats, while many American Communists like W.E.B. Du Bois opposed the US getting involved in the war even after Pearl Harbor.
Focusing too much on Cosmetic Fascism only helps blind us to the Fascist tendencies in ourselves, "we can't be doing the same thing if we don't cosplay as them". The fact is the character of Captain America is an inherently Fascist concept, yet people get all offended by acknowledging that. We will never defeat Fascism by fighting it with Fascism.
The fact is things like not wanting to let political refugees leave are also done by Dictatorships that at least claimed to be following a directly opposite political ideology to Fascism, so no you haven't defined Fascism at all by just focusing on that.
Again, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is so much better then most fiction with these themes because it acknowledges the Fascist tendencies that exist on both sides of that conflict.
Oh and you definitely can't keep calling Kylo Ren a Fascist when "let the past die" becomes his slogan, that is the antithesis of Fascism, that is far more characteristic of a Leftist way of thinking.
Update: Scar and The Lion King
Darn it, when I first thought of doing this post The Lion King was the main thing I wanted to talk about, but then these Casablanca videos prompted me to finally do it and I completely forgot.
So when it was announced that the upcoming remake of The Lion King was dropping "Be Prepared" a bunch of Liberals and Leftists on Twitter got all upset saying basically "Disney is dropping the Nazi imagery scene because they're suddenly afraid to offend Nazis" and I'm like, what???? Their Star Wars marketing is pushing the "Empire/First Order are Space Nazis" harder then it's ever been pushed before. Lucas at least admitted the similarities were cosmetic and he was more talking about despotism from any ideology.
I actually think it's highly problematic that this film slapped superficial Nazi imagery unto it's villains when it was the ideology of the Good guys in the film that was far closer to being Fascist. The Hyenas are demonized immigrants, it may not reflect the real world opinions on Immigration of the writers but that's still what is going on in the text. Scar is also coded as Queer, the people who had Pink Triangles in the Concentration Camps. The film is also as pro Monarchy as any Shakespeare play.
The fact is accusing your political enemies within the power structure of secretly working with a demonized foreign outsider is frequently the framework of Right Wing Conspiracy theories like those used by Hitler and Robespierre and modern John Birch Society inspired American conspiracy theorists.
A lot of discussion has happened on YouTube recently about the racist implications of "Always Chaotic Evil" fantasy races like Orcs and Goblins. Well the Hyenas in this movie are basically Orcs.
The improvement I'm hoping for from this remake is to actually try to correct or at least address these problematic implications, but whether it does that or not I certainly won't miss the dumb Goosestepping Hyenas scene.
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